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Mother of Diana, Princess of Wales

Frances Ruth Shand Kydd (previously Spencer, née Roche; 20 January 1936 – 3 June 2004) was the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. She was the maternal grandmother of William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, respectively first and fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. Following her divorce from Viscount Althorp in 1969, and Diana's death in 1997, Shand Kydd devoted the final years of her life to Catholic charity work following her conversion to Catholicism.

She was born Frances Ruth Roche at Park House, on the royal estate at Sandringham, Norfolk, on 20 January 1936. Her birth was on the same day as the death of George V. Her father was Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, a friend of George VI and the elder son of the American heiress Frances Ellen Work and her first husband, the 3rd Baron Fermoy. Since birth, she held the style of The Honourable as the daughter of a baron. She was educated at Downham School in Essex.

On 1 June 1954, she married John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer), at Westminster Abbey. She was 18 years old and became the youngest woman wed in Westminster Abbey since 1893. Their daughter Diana also recalled "seeing my father slap my mother across the face and I was hiding behind the door and she was crying." He was granted custody of their children by the courts after his former mother in law, Lady Fermoy, testified against her own daughter Frances. Frances and Peter Shand Kydd were married on 2 May 1969 and lived on the Scottish island of Seil, where they bought an 18th century farmhouse called Ardencaple, 10 kilometres from Oban. She divided her time between London, Seil and another sheep farm in Yass, New South Wales. On 14 July 1976, John Spencer, now the 8th Earl Spencer, married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, daughter of the novelist Dame Barbara Cartland. Although Frances lived a quiet life, she was forced into public view following the engagement of her daughter Diana to Prince Charles on 24 February 1981. Frances and her second husband Peter separated in June 1988. a French woman who ran a champagne importing business in London.

In 1996, she was banned from driving after being convicted of drunk driving, but denied she had a problem with alcohol. She and Diana quarreled in May 1997, after she told Hello! magazine that Diana was happy to lose her title of "Royal Highness" following her controversial divorce from Prince Charles. She was reportedly not on speaking terms with her daughter by the time of Diana's death. She spent her later years in solitude on Seil. She became a Catholic and devoted herself to Catholic charities.

Frances died at her home in Scotland at the age of 68 on June 3, 2004, following a long illness that included Parkinson's disease and brain cancer. Her funeral at St Columba's Cathedral in Oban on 10 June was attended by her children, sister and grandchildren, including princes William (who gave a reading) and Harry. Their father, her former son in law, Prince Charles, did not attend because he was traveling to Washington to represent the Royal Family at the state funeral of the former US President Ronald Reagan the following day. Frances was buried in Pennyfuir Cemetery in Oban, Argyll and Bute.

In 2001, Maxine Riddington published a biographical book about her, entitled Frances: The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother.